Vineland tells recycling firm to go away

Mar. 21, 2013

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VINELAND — A federal cleanup of the former Pure Earth Inc. recycling facility in North Vineland has removed more than 93,000 gallons of waste oil over the past month, but discussions about reopening the site this year under a new owner are at a standstill.

City officials say the next move goes to Tradebe Environmental Services, a recycling company that has lobbied Vineland and New Jersey for a state operating permit. That permit application process is described as nearing completion.

The city does not want recycling operations to resume at the site, which is in the Vineland Industrial Park.

The Illinois-based firm pledges to clean up existing contamination, if it is allowed to operate at the property, and says its own operations would not contaminate the area. City and company officials held a lengthy telephone conference Monday that didn’t reach a resolution.

“We are growing pretty frustrated with the way the city is approaching this,” Tradebe President Sergio Nusimovich said Thursday.

Nusimovich was responding to a news release the city released Wednesday night that reiterated its opposition to having any hazardous waste recycling in its industrial park.

The statement also reflected the city’s position following its meeting last week in Trenton with state and federal environmental officials. City officials were complimentary about Tradebe, in particular its openness in discussions, but adamant on the key issue.

“To be honest, we are re-evaluating the whole situation as we speak,” Nusimovich said. “So, I don’t have much to comment until we make it official internally. But, certainly, this doesn’t help in the process.”

City officials, in their statement, noted Tradebe previously had indicated it would not seek to open the facility if Vineland opposed it. Nusimovich indicated his company doesn’t feel the point has been reached, yet, to decide whether to honor that statement.

“When we talk to them, they seem to indicate they don’t have an issue with us,” Nusimovich said. “It’s an issue with DEP. We’re trying to assess what we need to do.”

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Nusimovich added his firm is unilaterally declaring it will not seek to obtain a state Department of Environmental Protection permit in the next few weeks. It also won’t act if it decides to seek a permit until it has notified all “stakeholders,” he added.

The company gave the city a similar promise in February, a temporary offer the firm kept until it expired March 13. The city, in exchange, agreed to research Tradebe’s operations and reputation and then reassess its own position.

“We really haven’t done anything since then and we don’t intend to do anything for at least the next two weeks until we analyze where this is going. We want to have discussions with the city,” Nusimovich said.

City Solicitor Richard Tonetta said the news release was framed in part based on that three-week period of “due diligence” regarding Tradebe.

“They’ve always been above board with us and quite frank,” Tonetta said. “There’s nothing more that they’ve told us that we didn’t already know. We know they’ve been dealing with DEP in order to put together an administrative consent order. But other than that, we’re waiting for a final determination.”

In the statement, Mayor Ruben Bermudez thanked the state and Tradebe for “open and frank discussions” over the course of the past week.

“We unequivocally restated our position that the city is not interested in hosting another waste facility of this type in our Industrial Park and we will take all necessary steps, including legal if appropriate, to protect the residents and businesses of Vineland,” Bermudez added. “I think it is safe to say that all parties involved are very clear where we stand.”

The mayor said research into Tradebe shows the company is a legitimate business doing “a critically important service.” Still, he said, Vineland doesn’t want a business like that here.

City Council President Anthony Fanucci said the council will vote on a resolution of support for the mayor’s position as soon as possible. He also said the city will keep pressure on the DEP to clean up any contamination left untouched by the continuing EPA remediation effort.

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“The EPA has done a great job of stabilizing and dealing with the immediate problem of the abandoned waste oil and other hazardous chemicals,” Fanucci said. “They also have a plan, pending adequate funding, to utilize a method called ‘bioremediation’ which in a few short months can clean the piles of soil above ground which are on the site. Beyond that, we don’t know at this point what else will be required.”

Nusimovich said that, in his company’s view, the city’s hope the state or federal governments will decontaminate the property is misplaced.

The Pure Earth site holds a variety of “hazardous waste” materials.

The EPA estimates Pure Earth left about 300,000 gallons of waste at the site, of which about 93,000 gallons have now been removed, and about 50,000 gallons of contaminated water. Ironically, some of that waste went to out-of-state Tradebe facilities for disposal.

In addition, there is about 220,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil. Tradebe does not recycle soil, which was the major recycling operation for Pure Earth, and would pay to remove it.

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